diff --git a/compose-snippets/act_runner.yml b/compose-snippets/act_runner.yml
index 83eca05..362c6b5 100644
--- a/compose-snippets/act_runner.yml
+++ b/compose-snippets/act_runner.yml
@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@
 # Deploy on the machine running Gitea (same host).
 # Registers at instance level — services all repos.
 #
+# Uses host execution mode — jobs run directly on the host machine,
+# so Docker commands work natively without socket passthrough complexity.
+#
 # Setup:
 #   1. Gitea → Site Administration → Actions → Runners → Create Runner → copy token
-#   2. Create /srv/act-runner/config.yaml (see compose-snippets/act_runner_config.yaml)
-#   3. echo "RUNNER_TOKEN=<token>" > .env
-#   4. docker compose up -d
+#   2. Add RUNNER_TOKEN to Portainer stack environment variables
+#   3. Deploy stack
 
 services:
   act-runner:
@@ -17,12 +19,11 @@ services:
       - GITEA_INSTANCE_URL=https://git.thewichersfamily.com
       - GITEA_RUNNER_REGISTRATION_TOKEN=${RUNNER_TOKEN}
       - GITEA_RUNNER_NAME=homelab-pi5
-      - GITEA_RUNNER_LABELS=ubuntu-latest:docker://node:20-bookworm,ubuntu-22.04:docker://node:20-bookworm
-      - CONFIG_FILE=/etc/act_runner/config.yaml
+      # host mode: jobs run directly on this machine — Docker is available natively
+      - GITEA_RUNNER_LABELS=ubuntu-latest:host,ubuntu-22.04:host
     volumes:
       - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
       - act_runner_data:/data
-      - /srv/act-runner/config.yaml:/etc/act_runner/config.yaml:ro
 
 volumes:
   act_runner_data: